RBI skips releasing balance sheet for the week ended June 30 for first time ever

The central bank is still working to make the final estimate of the currency in circulation a prominent item of liabilities on its balance sheet.

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India has for the first time skipped releasing the balance sheet for the week ended June 30, the day the central bank officially closes its accounting year in its weekly statistical supplement, thereby making the wait for the final impact of the high-value note ban of November 2016 longer.

The central bank is still working to make the final estimate of the currency in circulation a prominent item of liabilities on its balance sheet.

"The currency in circulation is a major liability on the central bank's balance sheet. They are mandated to be put in public domain as these (the central bank's accounts) are part of the public account," said an economist with a local bank requesting anonymity. "The RBI finalises its accounts by July-end and releases it to the government in August."

RBI governor Urjit Patel had told a Parliamentary Standing committee on July 12 that the counting of the notes was still on and information would be provided at the earliest. It cited the delay in announcing the amount of notes recalled to the government's decision to allow cooperative banks to return old currency notes to the central bank, and the likelihood of Nepal returning the banned currency as part of a bilateral deal. The total currency in circulation comprising notes of all denominations –– Rs 10- 2,000 amounted to Rs 15.4 lakh crore –– which is about 85% of the total value of the currency in circulation as of November 4, 2016, the day Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were scrapped.

After disclosing the amount of scrapped currency notes two weeks after announcing the note ban in early November last year, RBI stopped announcing the amount of old notes it had collected. RBI releases the amount of total currency in circulation every week in its weekly statistical supplement as part of its balance sheet and reserve money data. But it did not disclose the June 30 numbers in its latest release. Market analysts make their extrapolations to estimate the value of the high value notes.